First off, I'd like to say I had a problem with an online GW order I placed and my call to GW's Customer Service was efficient, friendly and I'll give "John" an A+.

The fact part is that GW is slated to redo the WitchHunter and DaemonHunter armies, as they haven't been revamped in a long time and they're due. The rumor is that they're going to sculpt the plastic kits not only with 40k players, but Dark Heresy and Rogue Trader players in mind.

Ok, I don't know if you've tried to order the Imperial Guard 3-pack with the Astropath, Naval Officer and the other dude, but I've tried several times and they're constantly out of stock. Games Workshop did not anticipate the popularity of these models because they're just not that useful in 40k games. Obviously, due to the fact they didn't make enough and they didn't even bother stocking them in their own stores (online/mail order only).

Am I far off in suggesting the demand came primarily from Dark Heresy fans? That set does make for excellent PC minis for 40k RPG's...they're very nice and different.

Last time I went to a Games Workshop store the lame excuse I got was "not enough shelf space" which is ridiculous because it's one peg holding a single blister pack...c'mon! I accused the GW employee of insulting my intelligence and he sheepishly admitted he was towing the line with an official GW approved scripted response.

It's up to US, dear 40k RPG enthusiasts, to make sure via forum posts, emails and whatever other means of communication will work, to make sure Games Workshop puts 3 and 3 together and figures out that Rogue Trader and Dark Heresy fans need and will buy miniatures representing Imperial Citizens that don't look like Space Marines or Imperial Guardsmen.

I've made some very nice conversions, but there's only so much you can do based off Power Armor or an Imperial Guard torso. How bout CHICKS?!? I either have to go non-GW or do some major conversion work with the Fantasy or Eldar range to get a decent female who doesn't look like an Assassin or a Sister of Battle.

So if we all just take 5 min out to shoot GW an email and let them know that if they're willing to make them (or let FFG or Forge World make them) we'll buy them, then maybe we'll get a bone thrown our way...

Can I get a "Whoooaahh BUNDY!"?

Actually, I'm thinking that if the FFG guys see this post and it has a lot of replies, they'll pass the word on to the GW guys. I'm going to try to ply my cause on GW forums and Dark Reign...

Can't hurt. It's not like we're being jerks or anything. We've got a demand, please make us a product! It's a win-win!

That is sensible. Although DH/WH aren't due for release soon, the upcoming codeices are Tyranids (February '10, cover art shown at Games Day), followed by Blood Angels/Necrons some time later.

The Astropath is pretty useful, hense the demand. Getting your reserves piece meal is awful, the astropath increases the likelyhood that you will get reserves on turn 2 and decreases the likelyhood of your opponent getting his reserves...

Quotes didn't work

Sounds like a great idea. I stopped using miniatures shortly after the first game (it does not give the best realistic picture when all civilians are male and run around with lasguns and flak armour) but if they did do a DH/RT like line I would be all to happy to buy them.

Good idea. To be fair, there does seem to be some evidence (on another part of these forums 2-3 weeks ago) that GW are up to something else with Inquisitorial minis: there was a photo of some sort of "Dark Heresy Lite" style mini-based game, with what looked like a plastic Volg pit beast, acolyte mini and beast house guard.

It does make sense to update the army lists for Inquisitorial armies when there's renewed interest in the ordos 'cos of Dark Heresy. Generally speaking, we're older fans with more money and staying power: it makes sense to pander to us. In fact, I love it when people pander to me.

If I were GW I'd do a combined Malleus/Xenos/Hereticus book with different rules and lists for each ordos.

(Mind you, it's been over ten years since we saw anything substantially new in the Dark eldar line, so I kinda wish they'd prioritise those...)

/signed..get us some mini's

Yeah, I'd buy em if for nothing else because they look cool and might give my players some inspiration. I like the large minis from Inquisitor, but they are expensive indeed

Speaking of civilian minis.

I seem to recall that there are "civilians" miniatures for the Mordheim skirmish game (I think they are called "frenzied mob" or something like that). Seems pretty strange that no one thought of doing the same thing but for Necromunda. If they did, they would work as excellent substitutes for civlians in Dh and Rt games as well.

I'm a terrible mini painter. I just hired my son to paint my Space Hulk minis.

I'd love pre-painted minis. Right now I use a lot of Star Wars minis, but wish I had more gothic choices.

Of course, my son needs money, so if we had GW DH/RT packs, I'd pick them up and keep the lad in spending money.

A plastic sprue with leg, body, arms, head and accessories so you could have all your civies looks unique.

With some weapon to convert them into basic thug/scum NPC or Armed startship crewman.

Add some lasgun and these figs can also be used as conscript for those hearthless gamers that sends waves of untrained soldier to their doom

I seriously doubt GW will support the 40K rpg series in any way ... other than to allow it to exist.

GW has an almost doctrinal dislike (seemingly) of rpgs, and has done for many years. The fact they wouldn't stock Dark Heresy in their shops even when they were publishing it was an insanely incomprehensible example of this imo. It was a game they produced and published (at that time), which had big crossover potential for their 40k tabletop players (and novel readers), but could they find a shelf for it in a dusty corner of their stores? Nooo ... 'we don't do rpgs', was the response I got at the time, followed by a surly, 'besides that game's not gonna work, 40k is a tabletop setting'. Okay that was just one counter-monkey's opinion, but it ain't unusual with GW in my experience.

Zomby said:

Hehe, im currently building a traitor guard army where most of the soldiers are nothing but crazed cultists and mutant dregs (hardly "trained soldiers")

But I agree with the plastic sprue. Would be sweet to have a plastic sprue wtih bodies dressed in different types of civilian clothes (anything from body gloves to robes, to just plain pants and tunics/shirts). Preferably parts of several genders so we can have both male and female civilians.

Deck these out with some bits from the Imperial Guard plastic sprues and they can easily be converted into gangers, conscripts, militia, crazed hive mobs etc. etc.

This is the mystery picture

I would buy them up as well. I love having minies on the table to represent combat, makes it feel a little more real to me at least.

heirodule said:

Where on Earth did you get that? It looks like a boardgame of some sort and with what looks 54mm models including Demiurg or Squats (more likely the former than the latter)...?

Go take a look at the kit they are producing for WFRP 3rd edition... then come back here and look at these again...

I think this was a prototype mock up for Dark Heresy using the same "board game/MMO" ethic that the new edition of WFRP has been lumbered with...

I just hope they dumped the idea

It showed up on dakkadakka in the middle of the "GW Mystery Box" (space hulk) hype.

Don't know what it is. Looks like a possible "boardgamization" of dark heresy. Those look like platic sprues for it, which makes me think it snot just a mockup.

But nobody knows who is telling

The problem with GW doing RPG friendly minis is that they have NO idea how to price them for RPG players. I don't think anyone wants to pay $15 for their PC mini. Reaper PC-sized minis are about $3-$4 tops.

And if GW made them to be priced for RPG players, then the prices would be out of line with everything else.

heirodule said:

SIGH.. they used to.. I remember back when Games Workshops stores stocked RPG's as well.. but those days are LONG past about 21 years long past...

That's wierd to think of a time when GW "was" your FLGS

You Guys are missing a BIG point! FFG makes Awesome plastic Figs! They should make already painted plastic minis like their Confrontation Line! Those are Awesome.

Thlaylie said:

That might be true, but then we would miss even BIGGER point, that GW is guarding it´s rights on producing 40k miniatures more jealously, than Adeptus Custodes, bigger part of Mechanicus, several Space Marine Chapters, billions of Guardsmen and vast majority of Battlefleet Solar, guarding the Golden Throne,-)

heirodule said:

Actually, pricing would be the easy part. If they decided that there was a big enough market, they could place 10 plastic minis in a box with tons of options all priced for about $35 (at this point in time, before the next price increase).

heirodule said:

I find that hard to believe. If GW know how to price the minis for games like Mordheim and Necromunda (where a warband/gang often only comprise of less than ten models, unless you play Skaven in Mordheim of course who tend to outnumber all other warbands), and games like Inquisitor (where players can play with less than five or even just one model), putting a pricing standard for RPG-orientated minis for Dark Heresy and Rogue Trader wouldn't be too hard.

Besides, individual gaming groups will hardly just settle for one mini to represent their PC, as it would be completely useless unless the group had access to other minis representing NPC's in combat.

I mean, what would the point be of just buying one single miniature to represent one PC if you don't even intend to use it for combats where other minis should represent enemies?

DenBob said:

I was thinking of something similar to that idea.

Imagine if GW produced this "Dark Heresy miniature kit" in the 28 mm scale, in roughly the same price range as a full Necromunda gang or unit box for WH40K, and with the plastic parts (I think most people would find plastic preferable since it's a lot easier to convert plastic minis than metal minis) you could construct one miniature from every career path in Dark Heresy (Adept, Arbitrator, Assassin, Cleric, Guardsman, Sanctioned Psyker, Scum, Tech-Priest and Sororitas), which included lots of different weapons, bodies and heads from different sexes, and other bits you might want your miniature to have represented on them.

Then alongside of these plastic kits, they could sell two "NPC boxes" one containing all manner of bits to construct Imperial citizens (of course easily interchangeable with the "PC-kit"), and one containing bits and pieces to construct heretics, gangers and other enemies.

And then apart from that, a plastic kit for all Rogue Trader career paths as well.

These kits would probably appeal not only to DH and RT players, but to Warhammer 40.000 and Necromunda players as well, since it would extend the range of varied bits to use in all the games respectively.

Of course, the key would be to insure that they follow the same scale as the rest of WH40K minis, and making the pieces easily interchangeable with other kits (like making sure that heads, bodies, legs, arms and weapons are separate pieces), but that shouldn't prove to be a problem for GW since they have already created quite a few kits with easily interchangeable bits.

Also, most of the work in designing the sprues would already be complete, since they could easily just mix a lot of current weaponry and equipment found in other kits.

I think it sounds like a sweet idea in theory. The trick would be to get GW to pick up on it...

Adam France said:

GW doesn't have a dislike of their RPGs. They don't stock the RPGs in their stores for a couple of reasons, none of which have anything to do with them disliking the games.